2

Luc. Bafta; content thee; for I have it full. We have not yet been seen in any house; Nor can we be diftinguish'd by our faces, For man, or master: then it follows thus ;-Thou shalt be mafter, Tranio, in my stead, Keep houfe, and port, and fervants, as I fhould: I will fome other be; fome Florentine, Some Neapolitan, or mean man of Pifa.3— 'Tis hatch'd, and shall be fo:-Tranio, at once Uncafe thee; take my colour'd hat and cloak: When Biondello comes, he waits on thee; But I will charm him firft to keep his tongue.

Tra. So had you need. [They exchange habits. In brief, fir, fith it your pleasure is,

And I am tied to be obedient;

(For fo your father charg'd me at our parting;
Be ferviceable to my fon, quoth he,

Although, I think, 'twas in another sense,)
I am content to be Lucentio.

Because fo well I love Lucentio.

Luc. Tranio, be fo, because Lucentio loves: And let me be a flave, to achieve that maid Whofe fudden fight hath thrall'd my wounded eye.

Bafta;] i, e. 'tis enough; Italian and Spanish. This expreffion occurs in The Mad Lover, and The Little French Lawyer, of Beaumont and Fletcher. STEEVENS.

9

I have it full.] i. e. conceive our ftratagem in its full extent, I have already planned the whole of it. So, in Othello: "I have it, 'tis engender'd—” STEEVENS.

2

-port,] Port, is figure, fhow, appearance. JOHNSON, So, in The Merchant of Venice:

" "Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,

"How much I have difabled mine eftate

"By fomething fhowing a more swelling port

"Than my faint means would grant continuance." REED. or mean man of Pifa.] The old copy, regardless of metre, reads-meaner, STEEVENS,

3

Enter BIONDELLO.

Here comes the rogue.-Sirrah, where have you been?

BION. Where have I been? Nay, how now, where

are you?

Master, has my fellow Tranio ftol'n your clothes?
Or you ftol'n his? or both? pray, what's the news?
Luc. Sirrah, come hither; 'tis no time to jest,
And therefore frame your manners to the time.
Your fellow Tranio here, to fave my life,
Puts my apparel and my countenance on,
And I for my escape have put on his;
For in a quarrel, fince I came afhore,
I kill'd a man, and fear I was defcried:*
Wait you on him, I charge you, as becomes,
While I make way from hence to fave my life:
You understand me?

BION.

I, fir? ne'er a whit.

Luc. And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth; Tranio is chang'd into Lucentio.

BION. The better for him; 'Would, I were fo

too!

TRA. So would I,' 'faith, boy, to have the next wifh after,

That Lucentio indeed had Baptifta's youngest

daughter.

and fear I was defcried:] i. e. I fear I was obferv'd in the act of killing him. The editor of the third folio reads-I am deferied; which has been adopted by the modern editors.

MALONE.

3 So would I,] The old copy has could. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

But, firrah,—not for my fake, but your master's,

I advise

You use your manners difcreetly in all kind of companies :

When I am alone, why, then I am Tranio;
But in all places elfe, your mafter + Lucentio.

Luc. Tranio, let's go :

One thing more refts, that thyfelf execute;-
To make one among these wooers: If thou ask me

why,

Sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty." [Exeunt. I SERV. My lord, you nod; you do not mind the play.

SLY. Yes, by faint Anne, do I. A good matter, Jurely; Comes there any more of it?

PAGE. My lord, 'tis but begun.

SLY. 'Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady; 'Would't were done!

4 your mafter] Old copy-you mafter. Corrected by

the editor of the fecond folio.

MALONE.

5 - good and weighty.] The divifion for the fecond act of this play is neither marked in the folio nor quarto editions. Shakspeare feems to have meant the firft act to conclude here, where the fpeeches of the Tinker are introduced; though they have been hitherto thrown to the end of the first act, according to a modern and arbitrary regulation. STEEVENS.

6 Exeunt.] Here in the old copy we have-" The Prefenters above fpeak."-meaning Sly, &c. who were placed in a balcony raised at the back of the ftage. After the words-" Would it were done," the marginal direction is-They fit and mark.

MALONE.

SCENE II.

The fame. Before Hortenfio's Houfe.

Enter PETRUCHIO and GRUMIO.

PET. Verona, for a while I take my leave, To fee my friends in Padua ; but, of all, My best beloved and approved friend, Hortenfio; and, I trow, this is his houfe:Here, firrah Grumio; knock, I say.

GRU. Knock, fir! whom fhould I knock? is there any man has rebus'd your worship?"

PET. Villain, I fay, knock me here foundly. GRU. Knock you here,' fir? why, fir, what am I, fir, that I fhould knock you here, fir?

PĒT. Villain, I fay, knock me at this gate, And rap me well, or I'll knock your knave's pate. GRU. My mafter is grown quarrelfome: I fhould knock you first,

And then I know after who comes by the worst. PET. Will it not be?

'Faith, firrah, an you'll not knock, I'll wring it;* I'll try how you can fol, fa, and fing it.

[He wrings GRUMIO by the ears.

has rebus'd your worship? What is the meaning of

rebus'd? or is it a falfe print for abus'd? TYRWHITT.

Knock you here,] Grumio's pretenfions to wit have a strong refemblance to thofe of Dromio in The Comedy of Errors; and this circumstance makes it the more probable that these two plays were written at no great distance of time from each other.

8

MALONE.

wring it;] Here seems to be a quibble between ringing at

a door, and wringing a man's ears, STEEVENS.

GRU. Help, mafters, help! my master is mad. PET. Now knock when I bid you: firrah! villain!

Enter HORTENSIO.

HOR. How now? what's the matter?-My old friend Grumio! and my good friend Petruchio!How do you all at Verona?

PET. Signior Hortenfio, come you to part the fray?

Con tutto il core bene trovato, may I fay.

HOR. Alla noftra casa bene venuto, Molto honorato fignor mio Petruchio.

Rife, Grumio, rife; we will compound this quarrel. GRU. Nay, 'tis no matter, what he 'leges in Latin.-If this be not a lawful caufe for me to

9 Help, mafters,] The old copy reads here; and in feveral other places in this play miftrefs, inftead of mafters. Corrected by Mr. Theobald. In the Mfs. of our author's age M was the common abbreviation of Mafter and Miftrefs. Hence the mistake. See The Merchant of Venice, A&t V. 1600, and 1623:

"What ho, M. [Master] Lorenzo, and M. [Mistress] Lorenzo." MALONE.

2what he 'leges in Latin.] i. e. I fuppofe, what he alleges in Latin. Petruchio has been juft fpeaking Italian to Hortenfio, which Gruinio miftakes for the other language. STEEVENS.

I cannot help fufpecting that we should read-Nay, 'tis no matter what be leges in Latin, if this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his fervice. Lock you, fir.-That is, " "Tis no matter what is law, if this be not a lawful caufe," &c. TYRWHITT.

Tyrwhitt's amendment and explanation of this paffage is evidently right. Mr. Steevens appears to have been a little abfent when he wrote his note on it. He forgot that Italian was Grumio's native language, and that therefore he could not poffibly mistake it for Latin. M. MASON.

I am grateful to Mr. M. Mafon for his hint, which may prove beneficial to me on fome future occafion, though at the prefent